


Distribution

by Darkestwolfx



Series: March Prompt a Day 2020 [7]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Best Friends, Business, Gen, International Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:33:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23204011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkestwolfx/pseuds/Darkestwolfx
Summary: In the early days, running International Rescue was a very similar process. The calls came in and he distributed their resources as he saw fit.
Series: March Prompt a Day 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1660813
Kudos: 11





	Distribution

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this was meant to go up yesterday, but things got in the way, so you're getting parts 7 and 8 tonight instead!

**7: Distribution**

Summary: In the early days, running International Rescue was a very similar process. The calls came in and he distributed their resources as he saw fit.

Words: 1440

Spoilers: None. Potential references to _'Relic'_ [S1E15], but no real spoilers.

* * *

Distribution, thanks to years in business, was a process that Jeff was highly familiar. It was a large part of his life, after all.

And in the early days, running International Rescue was a very similar process. The calls came in and he distributed their resources as he saw fit. It was harder though, harder than business.

Because these weren't products or figures he was talking about, rather real flesh and blood: _his_ flesh and blood, _his sons._ And unlike cargo which you could mostly reorder and fix the supply chain, his boys couldn't be made again. They were once in a lifetime fixtures and one moment could lead to their downfall.

He thought for a long time, with Scott desperate to follow him - so much so that it was like kicking heels - whether he was doing the right thing by his boys. It was one thing for Lee to help him; the man was knowledgeable and experienced and an _adult._ He'd lived a life and he knew what he was signing up for. Scott wanted to fly the TV-21, desperately, so much so that Jeff would have let him (with some assistance, when he knew it was safe), once it had survived the test flight–

But it didn't.

He'd come back, because he had experience in the field, and he knew what he needed to do. How could he expect the same of his sons? How could he push them into that life?

But _he_ never had to. Lee was right on that account.

Scott was sad – a melancholy that rivalled Jeff's own – that they lost the TV-21 for days, but his eyes had brightened at Thunderbird One which emerged in its place. And John was almost just as bad, his eyes heading skyward every night as though they would bring the waiting Thunderbird Five into his orbit so he could simply climb on and fly away from gravity.

It hadn't taken long for Virgil's eyes to catch the wide-spreading spark either, and soon Jeff found himself inexplicably pairing his boys to the Thunderbirds he was designing. And then Gordon had seen there was a submersible in the works and – because he had been much younger then – signed himself up if it would give him the chance to find Mermaids. Jeff knew, then and there, that Virgil was going to hold onto that for blackmail material against the prankster.

He might be there father, but he wasn't blind.

He'd intended to build International Rescue and the Thunderbirds as a legacy to leave his sons, something they could be a part of one day maybe, when they'd lived out their own lives and had decided it was what they _wanted_ to do. Decided that for themselves, not out of any sense of obligation either.

For a long time that was what he feared.

But by the time Scott was supposed to be leaving for college, it was clear he and John had made every plan to put their own feet down, so to speak, and fight their corner on the matter. Jeff was a little put out to not be the one doing the 'foot putting down' in that moment, but it was undeniable that Scott and John had thought this through with precision thinking (likely belonging to the red-head) which left little room for a counter argument.

Then Virgil had come rushing in demanding he wanted the same deal and agreed point blank with his brothers.

Jeff had never quite got the truth out of his boys, their faces all smiles and confusion and _'what do you mean, Dad?'_ , but he knew anyway without needing to break through their charade. He was certain Virgil had been brought in on the plan and was planted to stay outside until such a time that his arrival would be key – like waiting for the opportune moment to move the right piece in chess. Yes, the impetus may have been Scott's, but that plan was undeniably John's.

No International Rescue, no college.

That was the boys very insistent position.

Jeff had argued almost until he was blue in the face, throwing out every reason except for the one which really lived in his heart. He didn't want his boys to think he had certain expectations of them… not ones like that anyway. If they wanted to do anything else with their lives, well that was ok with him, but it seemed – regardless of his opinions – they wanted in.

"I want Thunderbird One – the plans say it's the fastest."

"I have no interest in it. I'm having Five."

"Says who?"

"Says me because it's in Space."

"I'm not arguing that one," Scott assured. "I like gravity."

"Well, good, because I want Thunderbird Two."

Clearly that hadn't been discussed beforehand for Scott and John's eyes widened and brows furrowed. "Why?"

"I don't have to tell you my reasons."

"You don't have a reason do you, Virge?"

"Yes I do."

"Is Gordon right? Is it because you want to be like f-"

"We're done here! Right Dad?"

He nodded. Not really sure what he was meant to say as Virgil went about pushing his elder brothers from the room, leaving Jeff none the wiser as to his middle sons' ambition, nor reasons for wanting Two. Scott and John were obvious and always had been, so he didn't even need to ask. And ok, he couldn't deny they'd been the images in his mind, but he decided he wouldn't share those, not when the boys had taken such control over their own futures.

"You see, Jeff. You needn't have worried, just like I told you."

"I know, Lee. I know. But how was I supposed to know they all felt so strongly?"

"You could expect that enough as you can expect a meteor shower."

"Lee, we can predict meteor showers."

"Oh yeah… Well I guess that's my point."

"So you saw it coming did you?"

"Course I did! Not. Er, well, I'll be off."

"Yes, Thunderbird Five will nearly be ready after this upgrade."

"Right you are, Jeff. By the way, you don't mind that boy of yours coming with me, do ya'? Um… John?"

"John?"

"Claims it's his so he should accompany me."

He chuckled at that. Yes, he did – sort of, with a lack of words – agree to the boys having their own Thunderbirds, he supposed. It would be good for John to go up with Lee whilst they were finishing the final details of the space station too, good knowledge for the future, and he trusted Lee to teach on valuable lessons.

And he'd been up there many times. It was perfectly safe, just as safe as Thunderbird One now was, which had delighted Scott when he last came home on break. Yes, Jeff remembered the many hours he'd spent sat as a co-pilot whilst his eldest circled round the island trying to find his top speed and get used to the controls.

He supposed it would only be a matter of time before Virgil was itching to get his hands-on Thunderbird Two. Heck, his third son had already spent enough time being part of the paint job.

And then there was Gordon, who was still jumping around waiting for his chance at a test run (so he could see Mermaids, _still_ , although he was much quieter about that since he realised Virgil could lord it over him).

He supposed it would only be a matter of time before he was redundant, sat back at his desk doing both but distribution. Well, there were a few years to go still, he was easily fit enough to keep going on missions, at least until he'd seen all the boys out on enough of their own.

"No, Lee, I don't mind at all."

And like that, his best friend was off, and a little after that he heard Thunderbird Three roaring to life in the low atmosphere.

Something in the back of his mind nagged at him, and he recognised it as the same feeling which had been present when Scott had been screaming his lungs to death at the joy of finally being allowed to fly his Thunderbird. One by one his boys were growing up, becoming a part of International Rescue, leaving him behind to think about how they were getting on.

He supposed he should fill that gap with something else, something productive, like work. Maybe Virgil would like to work on a little more than the paintwork…

Yes, he knew that one day he would be nothing more than the distribution man, but there were many years to go yet.


End file.
